The Relics- The Keystone Trilogy - Part 1

by Michael K. Damron

  “Wow, that’s a really interesting find!” said Alexie. “Is it all right if we all come with you to see what the notebook’s contents are?”

  “What you, Jack, and Marcel need to be doing is recovering and resting from the fray you just went through. And if you don’t feel like resting, get yourselves to the medical ward to make sure Butch and Bridgett are doing okay.”

  “We’ll definitely go and see them, for sure. But I think we’re all curious as to any clues the notebook may hold.”

  “She’s right,” said Jack. “If we put our heads together, we might be able to figure out what the rogues’ next move is and ideas for the best plan of action moving forward.”

  “Is this what you want too, Marcel?” said John.

  “It’s not the worst idea. I do want to see what’s written in the thing.”

  “Fine,” said John. “Follow me to the research lab and we’ll see what we can gleam from these pages. But the moment we’re done, you need to check on Butch and Bridgett. That’s mandatory, understand?”

  Everyone nodded their head in agreement.

  John used his screen to call ahead and make sure there were researchers ready to begin scanning the notebook’s contents. Upon entering the room, Jack was startled to see that Lucinda was one of the scientists summoned to help with the analysis. Her bewildered expression denoted she was surprised as well.

  “Marcel and Alexie have met these researchers before,” said John, “but since you’re new, Jack, this is Charles and Lucinda.”

  “Pleased to meet you, Charles,” said Jack, shaking his hand. “And you as well, Lucinda.”

  “The pleasure’s all ours,” said Charles.

  “Yep. Good to finally meet you,” said Lucinda, her voice tense. She turned to John and quickly changed the subject. “So what have you brought us to look at?”

  “Something that Marcel found. It’s believed to have been dropped by the rogues. It would be great if we could all take a glance at the pages as you scan them in the system so we might possibly develop and idea about the rogues’ next move.”

  “Ah, I see,” said Charles, taking the small notebook and laying the first page flat on the scanner’s surface. He pressed a button and the page image instantly appeared on a large screen comprising the top of the room’s center table.

  Everyone leaned in close to have a better look at the detailed scans being taken.

  “This one seems to be some sort of landscape sketch,” said Lucinda, placing her hands onto the table’s surface to manipulate the image and magnify certain areas.

  “Does this mean anything to anyone?” said John, looking at the Searchers.

  No one could guess what the image signified, or of its importance.

  “There’s a small ‘X’ marked in the upper corner of the page,” said Alexie.

  “Yes, I see it,” said John. “We’ll keep that in mind as we scan further pages.”

  “All right, moving along,” said Charles.

  The next scan was another sketch, as was the one after that. Page after page, new drawings were presented, but little was revealed about the rogues’ next move. The only pattern they noticed was that the ‘X’ marks stopped halfway through the notebook. To most everyone in the room, the drawings seemed like a meaningless piece of intelligence. Jack and Alexie, however, knew the potential value the illustrations could hold. If they were made from morphacite, like some of the ones in Jack’s father’s notebooks, there was a secondary state hiding secrets within.

  “Double check the scans to make sure you don’t need to redo any of them for better image quality, then place the notebook in storage,” said John, addressing the researchers before turning to the Searchers. “As for you three, head with me to see how Butch and Bridgett are recovering. The notebook pages will be available for viewing on our server later, if you want to look them over again.

  When they arrived at the medical ward, it was a relief to see Butch sitting upright and Bridgett standing while talking and wildly gesturing to Ferra and Garnet. Alexie ran straight to Bridgett and gave her a hug.

  “Hey, what am I, second best?” said Butch, smiling and outstretching his arms.

  “Of course not,” said Alexie, embracing him as well.

  “I’m glad to see the two of you in better shape!” said Jack.

  “Yeah, Bridgett was telling us a little about what she remembered from the rogues’ attack while she and Butch were in a trance on their knees. It sounds like some crazy stuff went down,” said Garnet.

  “It was harrowing, to say the least,” said Marcel.

  “How were you even able to fight back and injure Mark? That’s what I’m having trouble understanding.”

  “They escaped the rogues’ grasp because Jack and Alexie have been keeping a secret from us,” said John. “Together, the both of them teamed up and performed mind control on a rogue, which lead to a morphacite spike being driven through Mark’s hand.”

  “Woah, are you serious?” said Bridgett.

  “Sorry, guys,” said Alexie. “I didn’t mean to keep it from you. I just started to have the ability to perform cognitive links and went to Jack to see how his own ability was coming along. It happened over such a short period of time. One thing led to another and, before I knew it, we were attempting mind control on each other.”

  “I think it’s badass!” said Bridgett. “And I’d like to offer you and Jack a sincere welcome to the telepathy club.”

  “Ha! Thanks, Bri,” said Alexie.

  “Let us know when we need to pay our club dues,” said Jack, winking.

  “You can pay your dues by telling me every little detail of what happened after you were able to overtake the rogue’s mind,” said Bridgett.

  “Me too!” said Butch.

  Jack and Alexie took turns telling various parts of the sequence of events that led to their escape from the enemy’s clutches.

  “I’m glad to see nearly the entire Searcher team together in one room again,” said John. “Richard sent a message to my screen that he’ll be back later tonight. All of you should rest as much as possible while a decision is made in regards to our next move. I want to thank you all for your hard work.”

  He made a hasty departure while everyone else continued hanging out a bit longer until some decided to go their separate ways. Before departing, Jack held a secret conversation with Alexie.

  Meet me in my room when it’s close to midnight, said Jack. That’ll be when we go get our hands on that notebook.

  Sounds like a plan. I hope we find something hidden among the pages.

  I think we will. After all, it looks exactly like the notebooks I grabbed from my dad’s office before coming here. Maybe I missed one and the rogues snagged it at the same time my mom went missing. I don’t know. But I’ll be damned if John or anyone else expects me to idly stand by and be okay with my questions going unanswered. It’s time we take charge in getting the answers we’re looking for.

  I don’t blame you for feeling that way, said Alexie. And I’ll be right there with you to help.

  That means the world to me, said Jack. Thank you.

  It was a little past midnight before Alexie was able to covertly sneak into Jack’s room.

  “Are you ready to do this thing?” she whispered.

  “Ready as I can be. Let’s go!”

  As they approached the room holding the notebook, they noticed Lucinda and Charles were still analyzing the scans taken earlier.

  “What do you think?” said Alexie. “A situation for mind control?”

  “If you get Lucinda, I’ll take care of Charles,” said Jack.

  In an instant, the two researchers froze in place. Jack made Charles close his eyes and walk to a corner in the room. Alexie followed suit and made Lucinda stand directly behind him.

  “All right, let’s get in there and find the thing,” said Jack.

  They searched the space up and down, through all sorts of different drawers and cabinets. Alexie finally f
ound the notebook sandwiched between some other items in a bottom drawer.

  “Hell yeah, got it!”

  “That’s great,” said Jack. “I found this old handwritten book stored in a cabinet over there. I glanced through the pages and it seems like the writings have something to do with the relics. And it’s in English, so I can actually understand it. I may be able to use it and try my hand at creating a page of morphacite ink to convince John that this book was where I learned about familiars.”

  “Hopefully that’ll work,” said Alexie. “Now, can we get out of here? It’s so strange to be doing something while simultaneously controlling the mind of someone else and making them believe that nothing out of the ordinary is happening.”

  “Yeah, let’s make ourselves scarce.”

  Not long after they left the room, the research scientists snapped out of their trance.

  “Charles . . . uh, did you ask me to come over to this corner with you?” said Lucinda.

  “I, um, can’t remember. But we both thought it’s something we needed to do, right?”

  “Right. Maybe. At least, I think so.”

  “There’s a simple explanation for this, you know,” said Charles.

  “Oh? And what’s that?”

  “Sleep deprivation. We’re working hours that are so long we’re starting to become braindead. We need to turn in for the night and pick up our research tomorrow.”

  “Yeah, you’re probably right,” said Lucinda.

  “So come on, let’s head back to my room, have a nightcap, and then get some good rest,” said Charles, touching Lucinda’s arm.

  She promptly slapped his hand off her. “You keep your greasy mitts off me, you dog,” she said playfully. “I already told you, the last time was a mistake and would never happen again.”

  “Maybe I can’t take ‘never’ for an answer. My mind goes crazy when I’m around you.”

  “Your crazy’s so pungent it must be affecting me and leading to standing around in corners for no apparent reason,” said Lucinda. “Now, you can tidy up in here alone. I’m going to bed. And I’m locking the door to my room, in case you get any unsavory ideas in that pea-size brain of yours.”

  When Jack and Alexie opened the stairwell door and entered the hallway leading back to his room, the elevator doors opened close by and Richard walked out.

  “What on Earth are the two of you doing walking about the facility this late?”

  “Uh, we’re just picking up some light reading from the books available in the research lab. I’m sure it’s nothing you haven’t done before. The question is, what are you doing out this late?” said Jack.

  “I’m getting back from my special assignment.”

  “And what sort of assignment was that?” said Alexie.

  “Just testing out a device involving warp crystals . . . which is nothing to concern yourselves with at the moment,” said Richard. “Look, it was great running into the two of you, but I’m tired and about to pass out from exhaustion. Enjoy your light reading. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need some sleep.”

  Richard continued walking past them and into his room. It was apparent from his gait how sleep-deprived he felt—dragging his feet like a zombie, as if his legs weighed more than he could manage to walk on without extra effort. Alexie and Jack sequestered themselves in Jack’s room. Once Richard disappeared into his own, they immediately began going through the notebook, page by page. Even on the first sketch, they discovered it to be made of a thin layer of morphacite that held a secret message in its secondary state when Jack tried to manipulate the image.

  “Look!” he said. “This is just like the sketches and pages in my dad’s other notebooks. It must be another one of his that the rogues got a hold of!”

  “I can’t believe it,” said Alexie. “I mean, I thought it may be the case, but it’s still hard to believe that there was another one of these notebooks out there. I hope the rogues don’t have any more of them.”

  “I hope not either. Now, let’s see what kind of secrets these pages are hiding.”

  As they continued through the notebook, they were aghast to see that the secondary state of every page contained notes on the best potential excavation sites for the types of relics and artifacts the Searchers were trying to find. Some of the sites listed were those they had already visited and had been ransacked by Mark and his rogues. There were many other sites, described in detail, the Searchers hadn’t even been to yet. The entire notebook served as a kind of map for artifact sites with an ‘X’ written in actual pen at the top corner of the first thirty or so pages.

  “What do you think the ‘X’ represents?” said Jack.

  “I think it’s the sites they’ve already visited. Any page without the mark could possibly have information on sites that have yet to be stripped by the rogues.”

  “You know, you’re probably right. It makes sense.”

  “Do you think we should tell John about this?” said Alexie.

  “No, I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

  “Jack, this is really important infor—”

  “If we tell him about the morphacite composing the page’s contents and the secondary state that holds a secret message, it may also lead to him finding out the fact that I’ve been hiding three other notebooks just like this one. Besides, I’m still not sure how trustworthy the Searcher division actually is, or how unsavory the intentions of the Archon and Rakiten are, for that matter.”

  “Then I’ll say I was the one who discovered the use of morphacite as a kind of ink. After all, that wouldn’t be a lie.” said Alexie.

  “I can’t let you do that. You could get in some major trouble.”

  “And I don’t need your permission,” she said, grabbing the notebook from his hands. “Unbeknownst to anyone else, I went back to the research lab and swiped this notebook out of the drawer I found it in. Upon touching one of the pages, I found that it revealed a secret message and the ink seemed to behave like morphacite. That’s when I concluded that morphacite was, in fact, being used as a type of coded ink to hide content in plain sight. I won’t mention a single thing about the notebooks you already possess.”

  “So that’s going to be your revisionist history of how you discovered the notebook’s secondary morphacite ink states?”

  “Correct. And don’t try to persuade me otherwise. You know it’s the only way to alleviate us from having another run-in with the rogues, where they may have laid a trap for us the moment we get to a site they’ve already visited.”

  “What about all the sites without an ‘X’ on the page?” said Jack. “We could travel to one and have them show up out of nowhere because they might have another copy of all the notebook’s pages.”

  “That’s a chance we’ll have to take,” said Alexie. “I’m going to John in the morning to explain everything like I just told you. Make yourself scarce so he doesn’t suspect you know about the morphacite-as-ink secret. I’m sure he’ll tell everyone of the finding later in the day.”

  “I still don’t like the idea,” said Jack.

  “Don’t get me wrong, but I don’t care if you don’t like the idea. I’ve made the best decision for the whole team to be safe and move forward. I take full responsibility for anything that happens because I revealed the notebook’s secrets. The more of the rogues’ intelligence we can use to our advantage, the better.”

  “So I guess there’s no convincing you otherwise?”

  “Nope, afraid not. My conviction is too strong.” she said, giving him a kiss.

  “Are you always going to be this hard-headed?” he said, worried but sporting a playful smile.

  “I guess you’ll find out with time, won’t you? Now, if I remember right, you stole that old book from the research lab to try and create your own morphacite ink page. I’m taking this notebook with me, going to bed, and I’ll see you in the morning. Sound good?”

  “I have a feeling you’re going to do what you want no matter what I say,” said Ja
ck.

  “Aw, look at you, you’re a quick learner!” said Alexie, granting a final kiss before exiting the room.

  Jack still felt uneasy when he thought of John learning about morphacite being used as ink to facilitate hidden content. It wasn’t the worst idea to tell him, but it still left Jack anxious. At this point in the evening, Jack’s eyelids felt as though they were being weighed down by a powerful force. Before passing out from fatigue, a final feeling of concern and uneasiness crept through his head as he wondered, once more, how the revelations from the notebook and the knowledge of where the rogues might strike next would affect his and the rest of the Searchers’ safety.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  INTO THE CATACOMBS

  John was having coffee at the facility’s kitchen island and scrolling through news stories on his screen when the notebook Marcel found during the previous day’s relic hunt was tossed in his field of view.

  “Alexie, why is this not stored away in the research lab?”

  “Because there’s something about it I figured out.”

  “And what’s that?” he asked.

  “Oh, this is big. I mean, your mind will be blown.”

  “Okay, sure, let’s hear it,” said John, pinching the part of his nose between his eyes as if he were developing a headache.

  “The ink on some of these pages isn’t ink, it’s morphacite.”

  John picked up the notebook and did a quick riffle through the pages. “What?”

  “Seriously,” said Alexie. “Watch this.”

  As she placed her finger on one of the morphacite-laden pages, John became awestruck when he witnessed the sketch of a landscape transform into detailed information about a relic site with the inclusion of latitude and longitude coordinates.

  “I’ll be damned! How on Earth did you figure this out?”

  “Well, I, uh . . . sensed something was different about the notebook, so I borrowed it from the upstairs lab for a short while.”